CHAPTER FORTY-THREE: THE KINDEST CUT

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Diego have followed after Stan "Stan" he said before he whistled as he followed after him down the hallway.

"Stanley" he said again and Stan stopped before Diego walked up to him to see what he was holding.

"What is all this?" he asked as he grabbed something out of his hands "Acid?" he asked confused "Well, um, you told me to clean up my own mess. I just have to thank you for teaching me such a valuable lesson in personal responsibility" Stan said "Yeah, I'm not buying that. What's going on?" Diego asked but then he spotted blood on Stan's arm "You got blood on you. Come on, talk to me" he said before he bent down so he was in eye level with him "Hey, I'm your dad" he said "Um...Okay. But you gotta promise you won't be pissed" Stan said.

---

Stan and Diego entered the White Buffalo Suit to see Klaus laying dead with his eyes opened on the white blanket.

Diego bent down and closed Klaus's eyes "What did you do?" he asked Stan "Nothing" Stan answered and Diego looked at him before he got up and he grabbed his collar, pulling him closer "Do not lie to me. This is my brother" he said aggressive and Stan started breathing rapidly "Tell me what you did" Diego said "We were just messing around, and it was fine. Until the gun went off" Stan said and Diego looked at the cleaning supplies and acid.

"And you were gonna dissolve the body?!" Diego asked almost yelling as he looked at Stan "I didn't know what else to do, okay? You were gonna hate me, and I'd have to go to prison, join a gang for protection, and end up in the hole!" Stan said as he started sobbing.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey" Diego said as she put his hands on Stan's cheeks "I don't hate you. I just...can't believe it, okay?" he said before he looked at the body "All the stupid shit Klaus used to do. I used to think he could survive anything and now he's dead" he said "I'm really, really sorry" Stan said as he wrapped his arms around Diego before he started crying "Me too, kid" Diego said and wrapped his arms Stan.

"Come on and help me wrap up your uncle in the carpet" Diego said.

---

Light jazz music was playing in the background as Five lead his family minus, Stan, Diego and Klaus over to the bar.

Viktor, Lila and Luther was sitting by the front of the counter while Allison was standing by the counter.

Five was standing in the bar while he was giving them except Mitch and Andy a glass short each.

Lara was about to grab the bottle of alcohol but then Five grabbed it "Hey" she said "No, remember" he said as he took a quick glance at belly and Lara nodded.

Then Mitch and Andy was about to grab a shot glass each but Lara and Five grabbed the glass "Hey" they said "You boys are too young to be drink" Lara said and the twins let out a scoff before Five started explaining about the Kugelblitz.

"So this Kugelblitz, it's...?" Viktor asked "The end of everything. Every rock, every star, every atom sucked into a radiant black hole" Five said "Randomly collapsing matter every moment in time across all existence till nothing's left" Lila said "Hate to say I told you so, but..." Five said as he picked up a bottle of whiskey.

"You love to say I told you so" Viktor said and took a sip of his glass while Five took a sip from the bottle.

Lila picked up her glass before she looked around to see if she could spot Diego but she couldn't see him and she put down her glass on the counter.

"It's like someone press the reset button" Five said "You know, it's impressive. Whoever knocked off your mums, hated you all enough to end the entire univers" Lila said "We don't know that" Viktor said as he shook his head.

"It doesn't matter who created the thing. We just have to kick its ass" Allison said "Oh really? How?" Luther asked and Allison glanced at him "Are you and Diego gonna punch it in the Kugel?" he asked before he took a sip of his glass and the twins let out a chuckled.

"Nice" they said before they highfive Luther. 

"The best plan is to go back in time and eliminate the paradox and destroy whatever it was that took out our mothers and stop the Kugelblitz before it starts, but we can't do that. Briefcase is kaput" Five said and Allison turned her head to him.

"And why the hell can't you or the twins just jump us out of here?" she asked and he looked at her "Last time I tried that, we all got trapped in time. Do you really wanna risk that again?" he asked but Allison didn't answer.

"Why can't Mitch and Andy do it then, since they have inherited your powers. I mean they did it before" Allison said "Yeah with Five's help" Mitch said "Yeah, he lead, we combined our powers with him. He did most of the work" Andy said "And also it would be too risky since we have never tried it before" Mitch said "Which mean that it will be dangerous" Five said.

"What's plan B?" Viktor asked as he glance at the others.

--- 

 Diego let out a grunt as he pressed Klaus' body who was wrapped in the a white carpet against the wall.

"Are you sure we can't just torch the evidence?" Stan asked as Diego puss the button on the elevator door "A couple flames from Mr. Burns over here" Stan said "Give me that, you little pyro" Diego said as he took the lighter from Stan "We're not burning anything. We're gonna do talk to the family together. They'll, uh, understand that this was an accident" Diego said and Stan looked down "Hey. No matter what happens, I got your back, okay?" Diego said and Stan looked at him "Tú ya eres mi sangre" Diego said in Spanish "I still don't speak Spanish" Stan said and Diego threw the lighter back to him "And I accept your flaws, all right? Now..." Diego said before he let out a grunt as he was trying to keep the body up against the wall.

The elevator then opened and Chet walked out "I got it, I got it. Just go get the door" Diego told Stan "No, let me--" Stan said as he was trying to help move the body.

"No. Go wait over there. Wait by the..." Diego said "Okay" Stan said but then they stopped before they looked at Chet who was looking at them.

"Uh...yeah, we're, uh, playing a game" Diego said "What's it called?" Chet asked "Guy in a Carpet" Diego answered and Stan nodded "I hope you win" Chet said before walking away.

"Go get the door" Diego said "Okay" Stan said an d enter the elevator as Diego lifted the body up on his shoulder with a grunt before he sighed "Klaus was right. I love this place" he said before he walked into the elevator.

"Okay" Diego said as he got ready to put the body down "Get his head, get his head" Stan said "Yeah, I got it. I got it" Diego said as the two press the body up against the wall "Oh, that's heavy" Stan said "Press the button" Diego said "Okay" Stan said and walked over to the buttons "Ground, ground. G. There you go" Diego said, pointed at the right button "Yeah. Okay" Stan said before he press the button and the elevator door closed.

Then suddenly Klaus woke up with a gasp causing Diego and Stan to let out a scream before they jumped towards the other end of the elevator and Klaus let out a scream "Oh my God!" Diego said "You told me he was dead, puta!" Stan said using a Spanish word "He was, and now you speak Spanish?" Diego said as they were both freaking out.

Klaus grunted before he felled back down into Diego's arms "Let me just turn the volume a smidge, shall we. Celestial comedown is a bitch" Klaus said before Diego push him back towards the wall with a grunt "Whoa" he said as Klaus felled to the floor.

Diego kneeled down in front of Klaus "Oh, you scared the shit out of me, Klaus! I thought you were dead" he said "Yeah" Klaus said and started breathing rapidly as he looked at his wound on his chest "Me too" he said before he started laughing maniacally and Diego let out a laugh, happy that his brother was not dead.

"Me too. Me too" Klaus said with a weep and Diego sighed.

The elevator door opened and the three walked out of the elevator "Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. Dude. Dude slow down" Diego said to Klaus as he was walking kind of funny "You were dead, like, three minutes ago. Like dead dead, all right, so--" "Well, I'm back now" Klaus said, cutting Diego off.

"Apparently, it's, like, a thing I do. Who knew, right?" Klaus said before the three stopped "And look, look, look" Klaus said as he open up his shirt a little bit so you could see the wound "It's...it's already healing" Klaus said as the wound started getting smaller and smaller.

"What would happen if we cut off your head? Would it grow two of you?" Stan asked "Stan" Diego said as he looked Stan "Would it?" Diego asked as he looked back at Klaus who sighed before walking away.

"Gimme that" Klaus said as he walked over to the bar and took the bottle from Five.

"What happened to you?" Five asked "Oh, just a speargun to the chest. No big deal" Klaus said while he waved with his hands.

"What did we miss?" Diego asked them "The universe is ending, and we're all going to die" Lila said with a smile.

Then suddenly a wave of energy ran through the hotel, shaking the light that was hanging from the ceiling and there was a muffled scream as the wave disintegrated the guest in the lobby while also shaking the hotel a little bit.

As soon as the wave of energy ran through the twins felt it jolted their body a little bit to the side.

"Boys you okay?" Lara asked "Yeah. We just felt it" Andy said.

"What the hell was that?" Diego asked "That was a Kugel wave. Oh, it's getting worse" Five said as the light started flickering on and off more.

"How long do we have?" Luther asked Five "At this rate of escalation, if you factor in--" "How long, Five?" Luther asked "Four, maybe five days before the rest of existence is blitzed" Five replied before he sighed while Allison walked away.

"We should give them Harlan" Luther said "Luther" Viktor said.

"What about Harlan?" Diego asked "The Sparrows said if we turned him over, we could end the fighting, and then work together to save the world. But if we didn't--" Luther said "They also want Mitch and Andy" Viktor said "What?" Lara, Five, Mitch and Andy said out loud as they snapped their heads towards Viktor "They want my boys?" Lara asked and Viktor nodded "Why?" Five asked "I don't know" Viktor said "Well, no way in hell they are getting our kids" Lara and Five said at the same time.

"But then we should just give them Harlan and hope is enough because if we didn't--" "We tried to make peace" Viktor said, cutting Luther off "Okay, and then the step-siblings from hell attacked, kidnapped you, and they tried to kill us. I mean, come on. We can't trust them. Working together would be like trying to defuse a bomb by pouring gas on it. It's only gonna make things burn down faster" he said.

"But don't we need the big bad glow-y thing in their basement?" Klaus asked and everyone looked at him and while holding a shot glass in his hand, Five slowly turned his body sideways to face his brother "Klaus, do you know where the Kugelblitz is?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah. I saw it. When I went to visit Dad. It's in the old storage room where Mom used to keep all her luggage" Klaus said "What the hell Klaus" you said "Why didn't you tell anyone?" Five asked "I did. I told you" Klaus said as he pointed at Diego "You say stupid shit all the time!" Diego said.

 "Of course. It appeared in the same place we did" Five said. "...Important stupid shit" Diego said "That's not your fault. I'm inside your brain, pulling levers and stuff? Serious..." Klaus said.

Viktor got up from the bar before he walked away and Luther followed after him.

"Hey" he said and Viktor stopped before he turned around to look at Luther "Why are you protecting this guy, huh? It's like Peabody all over again" Luther said "Harlan is nothing like Leonard" Viktor said as Five blinked over to them "I hate that he can do that" Lara said before she jumped up on the counter, spun around before jumping down, walking over to Viktor and Luther.

"Well, he's clearly got some kinda hold over you. Stop covering for him" Luther said.

"Covering what?" Five asked as the rest came walking over to them.

"What's going on?" Five asked as he put his hands in his pockets.

"He didn't mean to hurt anyone" Viktor said to Luther "Really? You mean, when he did this?" Luther said as he pointed at the cut on Viktor's cheek.

"Ow" Stan said "Wait, Harlan did that?" Five asked "That's it, I'm gonna end him" Diego said.

"Look, I know how it looks, but Harlan didn't ask for this. If we hadn't gone back to 1963, if I hadn't have saved him--" "He killed Jayme and Alphonso, not you. He's the reason we're in this mess, and he's our only way out of it" Luther said, cutting Viktor off.

"Luther's right. If we're gonna have an iota of a chance of getting out of this alive, we need to acces to the Kugelblitz" Five said "There's only four of them left. We can just overpower them" Viktor said "What, and risk losing some of us in the process and Mitch and Andy end in the claws on Reginald ?" Five said as he shook his head.

"Maybe we should go. If it can stop the fight and work together with those Sparrows to stop this" Mitch said "No" Five and Lara said "You're not going" Lara said before Five looked back at Viktor.

"Harlan is insignificant" he said "You told me once that no one is insignificant" Viktor said to him and he looked away 

"Viktor, it's billions of lives at state. Harlan is just one" Five said "They'll kill him, they wouldn't kill the twins" Viktor said as he looked at his family "But not handing him over. We'll be killing everyone including Harlan" Lara said "They will not hurt you two. They will hurt him" Viktor said as he looked at Mitch and Andy.

"Stop trying to convince my sons in going" Lara said a little aggressive as she looked at Viktor "Yeah. Lara and I are not letting our sons that hellhole as long as dad is there, who knows what he will do to them" Five said "I don't think that man will hurt us" Andy said "You don't know that. He don't either have a soul or a heart" Diego said "He will probably do the same things to you two that he did to me and my siblings when we were kids, but worse" Five said and Lara nodded "I agree with your dad, you two are not going I don't care if it will stop a fight, you are not getting near that man" she said.

"Uh, so? We are talking about one person versus saving billions of lives here. I mean, is this really a debate for you people?" Lila asked "Hey, Little Britain? You don't get a vote" Viktor said to her before he looked at Lara "Either do you Lara" he said "Hey, don't talk to my girlfriend like that Viktor, Lara is the mother of my twins, she is part of family, so she does get a vote" Five hissed at Viktor.

"Also Lila lives in this universe too. Beside, she's family now. Kinda, sort of" Klaus said "Thanks, kitten" Lila said.

"I don't give a shit about the Sparrows, but I'm not gonna let scary-ass Grandpa finish you off" Diego said "Five days ago, he was just a little kid. And what? Now I'm supposed to just decide whether he lives or dies" Viktor said "For you it has being five days, but it's been years for him, Viktor. He isn't a kid anymore" Five said and Viktor looked at him.

"Viktor, we're down to ethical triage here, all right? We can't save everyone. We can save a minority of them. The kindest cut wins" Five said.

Luther then took a step closer to Viktor "You always wanted to be on the team" he said and Viktor looked at him "This is what it is. Saving the world means making the hard calls" Luther said.

"I hate this" Viktor said "Yeah, I know" Luther said and Viktor looked at him "I'll go get him" Luther said before he was about to walk upstairs but then Viktor stopped him "Wait, no. Let me do this. He trusts me. I can convince him to come quietly" Viktor said before he walked upstairs.

"So what now?" Mitch asked "Now we wait" Five said.

---

"So Mitch and Andy are the founders of this place called The Commission?" Lara asked as Five have told her anything that happen at the Commission "Yeah" he said "That don't make sense" she said "I know" he said "We were just as confused" Andy said "Yeah, if I'm being honest, I still am" Mitch said.

But then Five stood up from his chair when he saw Viktor came walking down the stairs.

"Hey" he called and Viktor stopped before he turned to him "It's time" he said as he put his hands in his pockets "Where's Harlan?" he asked "He's gone" Viktor said "What?" Lara asked. 

"You let him go, didn't you?" Luther asked "Harlan's death is not gonna stop the Kugelblitz. It's just gonna be another tragedy on a tragedy, and we can find another...I will find another way" Viktor said "Another way to what? End of the world 'cause you've succeeded to do that three times now Viktor. One life in exchange with billions, it's a good deal. Beside I don't think Harlan would mind sacrificing his life saving yours" Five said before he turned away from him.

"Well, congratulations, Viktor" Luther said before he chuckled "You managed to destroy everything. Again" he said and let out a scoffs before walking away.

"So you want to give the twins to Reginald instead?" Five asked "No" Viktor shook his head.

"I really thought you were smarter than that" Lara said as she was looking at Viktor "You do realized that you are now the reason Mitch and Andy wouldn't get the chance to grow up and that Lara, our kids and I wouldn't get the chance to live a life together. I spend 14 years away from the twins. And you have now taken my chances to make up for those time with my sons that I spend away from them" Five said as he turned to look at Viktor "You just destroyed their lives before it even began" Five said and Viktor walked away sad.

Klaus slid off the bar counter as he let out a scoff "Well! That went great!" he said as he smacked the sole of his shoes together before he let out a sigh as Five walked over to sit by the bar where Lara and the twins were.

Klaus grabbed a bottle with alcohol before he gave his brother a shot "There" he said "Thanks" they said as he poured the alcohol in the glasses.

"I saw my kid's future self die" Five said and Klaus gasps "That's crazy. Almost the exact same thing happened to me. But I didn't die, but I did, but..." Klaus said but Five cut him off "They told me not to save the world. And then they died" Five said "I don't know" Klaus said at the same time as Five said something.

"What do you think they meant by that?" Five asked "Well, shouldn't you know?" Klaus asked "Shouldn't you know about your--okay" Five said before the three lifted up their shots.

"Salud" Five said at the same time as Klaus said "Well, up your ass" and Lara and Five looked at him confused while the twins let out a smile as Klaus drank his shot empty.

"Klaus, I've dedicated my entire life to stopping the apocalypse. Apocalypses, plural and they tells me...That's it's...it's, what? It's meaningless?" Five said "Oh, well, I don't know anything--" Klaus said "Maybe that's their way of saying that we shall not let this version of Mitch and Andy become them, but..." Five said and sighed before he took a shot.

"Don't beat yourself too much about it, we can still change the future" Lara said as she rub her boyfriend's back.

"Oh, you're really messed up about this, huh?" Klaus said and took another shot of the alcohol while Five let out a sigh.

"Klaus I have cheated time so much, Mitch and Andy have my powers, so I guess they just figured they would somehow cheat death. But it turns out, Mitch and Andy die a nightmare inside a bureaucratic hellscape of their own design" he said.

"Well not to mention the trashy tattoo" Five said before he took out the piece of skin out from his inner pocket "Ugh!" Klaus said with a gasp as Five lay the piece of skin in front of them.

"Is this your skin?" Klaus asked before he started poking to it "I'll be damned if I go out with an old man tramp stamp" Five said "If you don't wanna end up like this guy, why don't you just do something completely different. Completely different...Move upstate with Lara and the twins, become an alpaca farmer, marry Lara, have more kids with her, make up for the times you missed with Mitch and Andy" Klaus said "Yeah, I could. The timeline's malleable. We've proven that much. I could try and break the cycle, but--" he said "Yeah, sure" Klaus said as he was looking at the tattoo.

"And don't join the Mothers of Agony" he said "What?" Five asked "The tattoo. It's the symbol of the biker gang The Mothers of Agony" Klaus said "You know them?" Five asked as he picked up the tattoo to look at it.

"Like two timelines ago, they were...How do I put it? My farmacistas" Klaus said "This is good" Five said as he put the tattoo in his inner pocket "Cause you know..." Klaus said but Five cut him off "Thank you, Klaus" he said before getting up and he looked "I'm coming with you" Lara said "Are you sure?" he asked and she nodded "We better spend as much time together as we can" Lara said "And we are going with you too" Mitch and Andy said "No. I want you kids to stay here. Remember that you are still grounded" Lara said "But---" "No buts, you two stay here" Lara said "Your mom is right kids. This time I want you two to stay here and don't you even think about going to the Sparrows, okay" Five said "Fine" Mitch and Andy said with a sigh.

"But what shall we be doing?" Andy asked "Hang out with your cousin, he seems to like you two" Lara suggested before Five grabbed her hand and blink away.

"Go get them. Romeo and Juliet" Klaus said before picking up his shot "All right, great talk" he said before taking a sip.

"That is so unfair, they are having all the fun while we are force to stay here" Andy said as he put his hands on cross in front of his chest "Well, maybe we should hang out with Stan. He is our cousin after all" Mitch said.

"I'm sure you two kids can find something to do" Klaus said before jumping off his chair and walked towards the exit "Where are you going?" Andy asked "I have some errands I need to do" Klaus said before he left.

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